The Color Purple by Alice Walker, published in 1982, is a Pulitzer Prize winning classic work of literature set in the Deep South of Georgia in the early 20th century.  The novel, brimming with both love and cruelty, was also made into a movie, and a musical.

Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance and holler, just trying to be loved.

African American sisters Celie and Nettie, separated as children, maintain their relationship through letters that chronically their struggles with intergenerational violence, domestic abuse, forced marriages, poverty and colonialism, and the emotional toll of this life. It is a story about the power of women and how they prevailing in adversity.

Why any woman give a shit what people think is a mystery to me.

Celie’s father forces her to marry a widowed man, Albert who has four children. She was just a teenager herself. Albert is in love with blues singer Shug Avery, and soon Celie is in love with her too.

Sofia the kind of woman no matter what she have in her hand she make it look like a weapon

Shug, and her neighbour, Sofia are unapologetic, powerful women who become role models for Celie, who discovers the color of female power is purple. Eventually Celie leaves Avery and flees to Memphis where she starts a business as a clothes designer.

She look so stylish it like the trees all round the house draw themself up tall for a better look.

The Color Purple, brimming with vivid characters is a deep, powerful, raw story about gender relations and the resilient power of women.